So apparently the “Dude” in Sherry’s “Dude, Get On That Already” is calling my name. So I got on the toilet. Okay, that sounds weird. What I mean is – the toilet in our hall bathroom has rocked a little bit from the day we moved in (the inspector even noted it on our little home inspection form). We quickly diagnosed the issue as a loose bolt, so “replace bolts on toilet” has been on my to-do list for over a year now. Yup, over a year. Why? Because replacing those lose bolts necessitated removing the entire toilet and reinstalling it. But I finally decided to seize the day toilet (amidst all of the photoshoot craziness) and tell this rocking throne who was boss. Why now? Something had to be done now that photo folks were actually using that room every day (hmm, a rocking toilet… embarrassing, much?).

We actually gave a toilet installation tutorial back in 2009 (using my parent’s bathroom as our model), but I figured I’d document this process because this project involves removing an old toilet first. And it’s also a good read if you have to replace your wax ring (it’s pretty much the same series of events) so hopefully it’ll help anyone else out there with a rocking/needs-a-new-wax-ring toilet. So ready yourselves for lots of somewhat grody and uncomfortable photos of the Petersiks’ potty. Complete with odd inherited rust spots and various caulk/paint spatters and discolored grout. Sounds like fun, right? Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s start with turning off the water.

With the supply line is turned off, I flushed the toilet to get as much water out of the tank and bowl as possible. Since that didn’t get things totally dry, I broke out a sponge to sop up the extra water by hand. And no, I won’t show you a picture of my hand in the toilet bowl.

Once things were pretty dry, I unscrewed the supply line from the bottom of the toilet tank. We’ve got Clara’s diaper sprayer attached so ours looks a bit crazier than your average toilet, but the idea is basically the same.

There was a bit of water leftover in the supply line, so I had some paper towels on hand to soak it up.

Next up was removing the tank, which is bolted to the bowl in three spots. I was pretty much able to do it with a screwdriver all from the top, but I did have to unscrew the nut from the bottom side at one point.

Once it was unscrewed, I lifted it up carefully and set it down somewhere soft and out of the way. In this instance, that meant an old towel the bathtub. Oh yeah – we’re a classy operation ’round here.

Speaking of classy: here’s our topless toilet.

To remove the bowl, I had to unscrew the bolts on either side – this particular guy was the culprit for the rocking situation that got us into this whole mess:

With both bolts unscrewed, I used a gentle rocking motion to detach the toilet from the floor. It’s stuck to the floor in place by a wax ring (just wait for that beautiful picture – it’s coming up!). But once you’ve got it unstuck, the bowl comes up pretty easily.

And here’s that beautiful picture I teased. If you’re eating breakfast, you might want to stop scrolling. You can see I plugged the hole with an old rag to minimize the odors creeping back up and assaulting my nostrils. You just have to be careful not to put it in so deep that it gets lost into the sewer system. You might anger the Ninja Turtles living down there.

Since the old wax ring had to come up to make room for the new one, I got to scraping. This is probably the grossest picture of the post, so please accept my apologies. But rest assured that it’s just wax and rust – nothing more.

Oh, and I made sure to remove the old rubber reinforcement ring too. This comes in some wax rings, so it shouldn’t be left in place (our new wax ring had one in it).

I also had to clean a little bit of the wax off of the base of the bowl too so it was all pretty looking. Well, pretty is probably a stretch.

Here’s the new wax ring kit. It came with new bolts and everything for a whopping $6 at Home Depot.

The new ring gets stuck to the bowl, not the floor. I just pushed it slightly down over the opening at the bottom of the bowl. Be sure to have an inquisitive chihuahua double check your work.

Oh, and of course the new bolts had to go into place around the flange (that’s the steel piece attached to the floor – ours is very rusty). And remember to pull up the rag right before you put your toilet back into place (again, so as not to meet the wrath of Ninja Turtles).

Then came the tricky part – which I’ve been known to mess up in the past – putting the toilet bowl back into place. It’s tough only because (1) they’re a bit heavy and (2) you have to line it up perfectly over the bolts. But if worse comes to worst, you just pull it back up and try again (though if you’ve squished your wax ring too much you may need to put a new one on). That’s why I always buy two wax rings just in case. Better to spend an extra $6 to save a trip to the store (or risk a leaky toilet). Plus you can always return it the next time you’re at the store if you don’t end up needing it. Oh and this step can be helpful with two people (not only did Sherry take this picture to document things, then she got on the floor and helped me slowly lower the toilet down onto those bolts so it was all nicely aligned).

Once we had the toilet placed and straight, well, I sat on it. And Sherry took a picture. But the toilet-sitting was for good reason. I had to put a little bit of pressure on it to squish the wax ring into place to ensure that we were getting a good seal. I wish I could say this is the first post that featured a picture of me on the john, but alas…

Once it felt pretty set, I went to work bolting it into place. You can see how the new bolts stick up nicely through the holes in the bottom of the toilet bowl.

I hand tightened the nuts most of the way, but used a wrench to finish things off. The thing about a toilet is you don’t want to over-tighten because it can easily crack the ceramic. So just be sure to do this slowly. Note: that is not a hairball on the floor, it’s a weird rust stain that has been there since we moved in. So we plead the fifth.

I also had to bust out the hacksaw to cut off the extra length of bolt (so the little plastic covers can fit over them and hide the bolt entirely).

Bowl securely in place? Check. Not rocking anymore? Check. Now it was time for some tank action. I put the tank back into place on top of the toilet and screwed it in. Again, not too tightly because I didn’t want it cracking. But enough so that it felt secure and I didn’t think it would leak.

And last but not least, I reconnected the water supply line so we could check for leaks around the base of the bowl, the bottom of the tank, and where the water line is connected.

All of that checked out okay, so I ran a line of caulk around the base of the toilet. I only did it around the front 75% of the bowl so that if a leak were to happen in the future, it could escape out the back and alert us to the issue (that’s a little plumber’s trick we learned a few years back for ya).

Now this is usually where a toilet replacement adventure would come to an exciting conclusion. But this particular bathroom drama has another chapter. Because another thing on my more-than-a-year-overdue to-do list was to install a dual flush converter in here.

We did this in our last house so you can read a more in-depth description of the why and the how of dual flushing here. But basically this $20 converter kit (which is now sold at Home Depot) lets you take a normal toilet and give it two flushing options: a lighter flush for, um, lighter “activities” and a fuller one for the, you know, other stuff. Hooray for saving water (and money) and pretending your toilet is from the future.

The installation was a cinch compared to the whole wax ring replacement stuff. Here’s a shot of the finished product.

And for the grand finale – and “after” shot of our now fixed, now dual-flushing toilet. Sure, it looks pretty much the same. But just try sitting on it. It’s soooooo much better. No more seasick-esque motion. No more shouting a warning to guests who head down the hall to use the facilities. And admit it, that diaper sprayer on the right is hardcore. Like our toilet is wearing a little holster or something…

So that sums it up. Has anyone else had any bathroom adventures lately? Actually – let me phrase that more carefully. Has anyone else done any plumbing or bathroom fixture updates recently? Don’t want to hear about other sorts of activities going on in there. Oh and does anyone else know how to get hairball-esque rust out of tile? We’ve scrubbed that odd little squiggle of orange to no avail.

Psst- Now that I’ve assaulted your eyes with toilet pictures, check this out (it’s much cleaner and sweeter).

378 Comments

How hard is it to push the buttons on your dual-flush toilet? We want to try converting ours, but have read some reviews that kids have a hard time pushing the buttons. We have a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old, and one on the way, so this is obviously a concern. I know Clara’s not at that point yet, but any thoughts/advice on the issue?

Hmm, Clara probably couldn’t push them but we have nieces and nephews who are around 6 can do it. Not sure about a 2-4 year old though. They’re a bit firmer than a handle but not strenuous for an adult. Anyone have any kids who can weigh in?

We have dual flush toilets that have a regular handle. Push towards the wall or pull towards you depending on the amount of water you want. I don’t know if you can get converter kits with this type of handle. The toilet itself is builder grade and not an expensive one, Vortens brand. Where I live the city will give you a $50 rebate check for upgrading to a low flow toilet, which helps cover the costs of a new one.

I have been meaning to ask you a question about your diaper sprayer and cloth diapers. We just recently switched to cloth diapers and are loving it! I am wondering what you do with the diaper after you spray it thoguh. I have just been keeping plastic bags in the bathroom but would like a permanent solution. Do you use the pails so that you can bring it into the bathroom when you need to spray a diaper?

I’ve been wondering about this too. I started out strong with the cloth diapers, but when we introduced solid food I just couldn’t take it and switched to disposables. How often do you wash the diapers and how horrific does the diaper bag smell when you open it to do laundry? I was using latex gloves every time I washed the diapers and that was just on breastmilk. Am I just being a weenie?

Oh man, really? I’m sure it differs for every kiddo (some poop is scarier than other, haha) but we just spray them down, toss them into the wetbag (which completely seals the smell) and then we wash the whole shebang every day and a half or two days (BumGenius recommends washing them that frequently and not letting them sit too long, so we follow that and they’re holding up well!). There’s not too much smell because you spray them down.

I don’t know if somebody already mentioned Bar keepers friend it’s hard to find in some areas they make a powder and cleanser form think Soft scrub if you well. That will show that rust stain who’s boss and if you have stainless pots or pans use it on them and they look new again. Good luck

Hi friends, thanks for keeping it real as always, and for the informative tutorial. We have had great success removing rust stains by making a thick paste with baking soda and water, letting it sit overnight, then rubbing it off with a green dish scrubbie. The rust seems to lift right off with the flakes of dried baking soda.

Also, I was so excited to see your dual flush converter! I didn’t know you could buy those without buying a whole different kind of toilet. Now I want to install one on ours! Thanks for the great tip!

Totes jelly of the older model Bum Genius diaper sprayer. We have the newer one and instead of the clear line that attaches to the spray nozzle, it now has a metal one. Still LOVE and ADORE the contraption, just wish it was less noticeable and busy on the toilet…

Thank you for this post! I am going to show it to my husband… When we moved into our house 18 months ago the SOLE toilet rocks a little. We’ve tightened the bolts, but I didn’t realize you had to disassemble the whole toilet. I know what someone is doing this long week-end…!

HAHAH! I know this post was information and don’t get me wrong you did a top notch job as usual but so many hilarious things were running through my head when I was reading this like ‘John on the John’ hahah or the fact that John takes some photogenic pix perched on his throne! I could give you a laundry list of others but since this is a post about bathrooms hahah!

You know how most public bathrooms these days have the automatic flush sensor so you don’t have to touch anything? Well, not too long ago I was in a public bathroom that had something kind of amazing — AUTO dual flush. How was this accomplished, you ask? Well, a little sign behind the toilet tells me that it senses HOW LONG YOU TOOK, and flushes accordingly. Creepy, right? But also kind of awesome.

1. Ewww…did you really have to put your hand in the toilet to soak up the water?? I think I would have had to wait weeks after company left to feel like the toilet had been rid of all those extra germs!

2. I like the push button thing. I think it would make it a lot easier for our two year old to flush the toilet herself. Thanks for letting me know that is out there!

Who would have thought I’d learn so much from a post about toilets?? I actually have to remove some paneling from behind a toilet in our master bathroom but I didn’t know how to get it out without removing the toilet so it’s just sat there, partially painted, for over a year. Now I guess I have no excuse to not finish the project.. Oh, and we got that toilet sprayer (after seeing it here) and LOVE it. It’s made the whole cloth diapering thing a whole lot less scary. Now I want to convince the hubs to put the duel flushing thing on the toilet so we’re not using a ton of water after rinsing off a diaper..

Our plumber recommended we use a stack of two “plain” wax rings instead of one with a plastic flange. He claimed the flange tended to catch paper and clog the toilet. I’m not sure this has really made a difference, but it was slightly cheaper and works just fine. We will have more wax to remove if we need to re-seat the toilet again.

love the t-shirt john! i got the same one when i ran the virginia breach half marathon last year. i love wearing it down here in north carolina!

also, i work with new home construction in the charlotte, nc area. i’d suggest using a product called ‘bar keepers friend’ on the rust. it comes in a shaker can and you can pretty much buy it anywhere (grocery stores, target, etc.) dampen the area and sprinkle on ‘bar keepers friend’ to form a paste. leave it on for a few minutes and then scrub away (scotch brite should do the trick.) good luck!

A tip if you’re putting the toilet on the bolts yourself. While you’re getting the wax ring and stuff, stop at a fast food joint and pick up a handful of straws, you only need two, but get a few in case you mess up. Then before you’re placing the toilet on the flange/bolts, put the straws on the bolts to extend them. then it’s a bit easier to align the toilet with the bolts since the straws guide you down correctly. then once it’s on over the flange and bolts, pull the straws off. Easier to align while it’s a few inches above the floor instead of 1 inch above the floor while the wax ring is hitting and stuff.

Thank you so much for posting this! We’re about to start our DIY bathroom renovation but we don’t really know what we’re doing, haha. This could not have come at a more perfect time! And I never knew those dual flush converters existed…awesome! We’ll have to grab one of those too. Thanks again for the helpful tips!

Last year I helped my dad fix one of our toilets. Getting the toilet back on the screws was the hardest part, especially since our toilet is older and the water tank wasn’t detachable. Let’s just say his arms were pretty sore the next day from all the lifting and hovering! You made it look easy :)

I had a little drip that turned into a bigger dribble in the bathtub faucet. I’m not shy about doing home improvements and repairs myself, but I’ve never really had to deal with plumbing before. A few weeks ago, with lots of online research and video watching, I took a chance to try to fixed it myself. I figured if I couldn’t do it, then I would call a plumber. I knew the hot water was the culprit, but I went ahead and changed both of the “guts” behind the hot and cold water handles. The project actually ended up taking a whole weekend. The cold water plumbing came out and was replaced just fine. The hot water was stuck like chuck, and I tried every tool I could think of to get it off. I went to Home Depot 4 times in 3 hours buying tools and returning them when they didn’t work. (Luckily I live less than a mile from a HD and a Lowes!) After getting some Liquid Wrench penetrating oil and letting it sit over night, the hot water plumbing final loosened! I got everything changed out on the hot water, and the drip is gone.

I installed that same dual-flush converter kit, and have been really happy with it. However, I heard from one of my readers that she was really unhappy with her. Her complaint? That the buttons were too hard for her to push, and that her long nails made it difficult to push the buttons down.

We started our complete gut job of a bathroom reno yesterday! New joists, new subfloor, new walls, new everything! We have a whole whack of plumbing in our future. It’s definitely going to take awhile, since we’re doing the majority of it ourselves. Yikes!

About

Hey, we're Sherry & John. This is where we chronicled 7 years of our lives as we fixed up 3 homes, had 2 children, became accidental authors and product designers, and shared our adventures (and misadventures) with the world. Now it's a time capsule of sorts, complete with nearly 3,000 posts, projects, and updates.